Comedian Kevin Hart was initially confirmed to front this year’s Oscars, but that plan was exceedingly short-lived as he stepped down from the role in December following the reveal of controversial tweets from his past.

A new category called Best Popular Film was originally going to be debuted at this year’s ceremony, but after a negative reaction, it was announced that it too would not be making an appearance on the Oscars stage this year.

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We found out in September that the category would be postponed with a statement saying ‘The Academy recognised that implementing any new award nine months into the year creates challenges for films that have already been released.’

Many films have already appeared as early favourites for this year’s awards, but the official nominations haven’t been announced yet.

Christian Bale has received a lot of praise for his portrayal of Dick Cheney (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Turner)

When are the Oscar nominations announced?

The Academy Award nominations are set to be announced on Tuesday 22 January 2019.

Last year in 2018, the nominations were revealed on 23 January, with The Shape of Water going on to win Best Picture. Meanwhile Frances McDormand won Best Actress for her turn in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, and Gary Oldman won Best Actor for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

When will the event take place and how can you watch?

If you’re in the UK and hoping to watch the events unfold live then you will be staying up quite late as the 2019 Oscar will begin at 1am on Monday 25 February.

It will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollwood, California.

The bookies have Glenn Close and Lady Gaga head to head as favourites to win Best Actress. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

You’ll be able to watch the Academy Awards live on the dedicated Sky Cinema Oscars channel.

And you don’t necessarily need to be a Sky subscriber to access this channel – all you will need is a Sky Cinema Pass on NOW TV, which you can get for free if you’re a new customer, or for £9.99 a month if you’re not.

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Who are the current Oscars 2019 favourites?

For Best picture, the odds currently favour Roma at 7-4, and A Star is Born at 5-2 that they’ll win.

A Star Is Born seems to be doing fairly well across the board, with 3-1 on Bradley Cooper to win Best Actor and 6-1 on him to win Best Director, and 7-2 on Lady Gaga to snap up Best Actress.

But, despite the hype, they’re not the favourites to win in those categories.

It’s looking more like Rami Malek might scoop up best actor for his portrayal of rock star Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody with the odds at 4-7.

Glenn Close has the exact same odds which make her the favourite to win Best Actress for her turn in tense drama The Wife.

Meanwhile Alfono Cuaron is tipped to win Best Director for his critically lauded film Roma, which you might remember from the top of this paragraph as one of the contenders for Best Picture.